The company says it sold just over 204,000 cars and trucks for the month, below the expected industrywide increase of around 9 percent.

Ford says its car sales fell 9 percent while trucks rose 8 percent. Focus small car sales dropped 15 percent, while the C-Max hybrid dropped more than 40 percent. But sales of the F-Series pickup, the most popular vehicle in the nation, rose 7.4 percent.

Sales of the Lincoln luxury brand were down 11 percent, while Ford brand sales were down slightly.